9
More Mediocre Results From Raducanu
13 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
This was supposed to be the big comeback for Emma Raducanu. She took the long break to recover from injuries and bad results, trained hard and launched her highly anticipated return to the WTA Tour in 2024.
But so far, the former US Open champion still looks like a journeywoman. The 21 year old ranked 296 lost in Dubai to Ons Jabeur 64 61. Emma is now 3-3 on the year.
In Brisbane she beat Elena Gabriela Ruse, ranked 143 before losing to Elena Svitolina, ranked 25, in three sets.
At Australian Open Emma impressively defeated Shelby Rogers, ranked 161, 63 62, then fell to Yafan Wang, ranked 94, 46 64 46.
This week in Abu Dhabi, Emma upset Maria Bouzkova 64 61 before the loss to Jabeur.
So the pattern of mediocrity continues for Raducanu, who will persevere forward and try to find her lost mojo which magically resulted in her winning three qualifying matches and then seven main draw matches – all in straight sets – on her way to capturing the 2021 US Open, her only WTA title win.
Despite the losses, Raducanu’s self belief will not waver because she knows that she certainly can catch lightning in a bottle again and regain the form and shotmaking that will put a second Grand Slam trophy in her hands.
Emma Raducanu · Nike · Wilson
Douglas Day · February 10, 2024 at 11:25 am
Ugo Humbert is on home court against Hurkacz this morning. He breaks first game and holds to win first set. He’s 0-3 with Hubie but thid is is hour i predict.
P.S. dont miss match of the year Shelton Thompson war in Dallas!
Scoop Malinowski · February 10, 2024 at 3:50 pm
Doug, Yes Jordan “the opponent” Thompson is underrated and his win vs Rafa was no fluke or injury-aided. He flat out whooped Rafa. Shelton vs Tiafoe final seems to be the script though.
catherine · February 11, 2024 at 7:12 am
Scoop – Tim Henman was right when he recently called Emma ‘inexperienced’ because that’s exactly what she is. She seems to have been around for a long time but she really hasn’t, not if you count up the amount of competitive play over the past couple of years. She has much to catch up.
Emma knows her USO was a fluke. Nothing will ever equal that.
And it will always shadow her.
Scoop Malinowski · February 11, 2024 at 8:08 am
Catherine, How is Raducanu inexperienced? She’s been on the WTA Tour since 2020. She was ranked 10 in the world. It seems people who may want to coach Emma make up excuses for her poor results. Injuries, inexperience, etc. At some point you have to call it like it is: She’s playing mediocre tennis and she needs a major coaching change. Tursunov is waiting. Her US Open was not a fluke, no Grand Slam winner is ever a fluke. I believe her problem is she’a target and everybody she plays treats her like the biggest match of their year. For her, each match is just another match. Her struggles have snowballed but at some point she will regain her US Open mojo IMO.
catherine · February 11, 2024 at 10:02 am
Scoop… I think Tursunov will be waiting a while.
I saw her recent matches and on and off she showed that the best parts of her game are still there.
Of course the key to it all may be her comment last year that she prefers riding motorbikes to playing tennis….
BTW Henman doesn’t want to coach her. I’d bet on that.
Douglas Day · February 11, 2024 at 11:21 am
Ugo just passed Mannarino as no.1 Frenchman with a personal best rating of 18 in ATP. In contrast to his team mate Humbert did it by staying on offence.
Scoop Malinowski · February 11, 2024 at 12:06 pm
Catherine, Yes Tursunov priced himself out of the job by wanting the two year plan. But I believe he would help her like he helped every other wta player who requested his services – Vesnina, Sabakenka, etc. Henman would do it IMO. Did you see Graf play pickleball slam2?
Scoop Malinowski · February 11, 2024 at 12:16 pm
Doug, did you see that forehand return miss on match point by Mannarino vs Giron? Looked like an intentional miss down the line, strange from a guy who never misses. French tennis has entered a new era.
catherine · February 12, 2024 at 5:37 am
Scoop- did you mean Andre or Steffi ? I saw Andre.
Steffi would rather die than pick up a tennis racquet again.
Scoop Malinowski · February 12, 2024 at 8:22 am
No Catherine, both Andre and Graf played Pickleball slam together vs McEnroe and Sharapova, Blake and Sock also were involved. Steffi loves it. Andre looked fantastic, better than Sock, he lost 40 pounds and is super fit again. It was a good show.
catherine · February 12, 2024 at 11:15 am
Reasons why Raducanu might find life hard on the comeback trail:
Last year, Elina Svitolina finished the 2023 season as the WTA comeback player of the year. Despite establishing herself as a top player for a far longer period than the 2021 US Open champion, Svitolina was willing to drop down to the ITF Circuit as she tried to find her feet after maternity leave. A key result came in the Strasbourg WTA 250 event, which she won without facing a single top-40 opponent. Winning matches against lesser opponents provided her with sufficient confidence to take her game to the best players. For Raducanu, even when she has played well, the calibre of opposition has made it difficult to establish any lasting rhythm.
The WTA’s changes to its calendar have certainly made it even more difficult to play lower events. While ATP players can choose between three tournaments each week in February, with seven ATP 250s being held this month, the WTA’s calendar now prioritises the bigger events. This week, the Qatar Open, a WTA 1000, is the only event on the WTA and there are only two WTA 250 events this month. Raducanu may hope for another wildcard into the WTA 1000 event in Dubai next week, where a similar challenge would await her against the best players in the world.
From the Guardian 12/2
Scoop Malinowski · February 12, 2024 at 12:15 pm
Catherine, Raducanu out first round in Doha to Kalinina 60 76. I don’t buy all those reasons. Nobody talks about what Sharapova said. After she won her first grand slam as a teen she got all those sponsor deals, which angered the other wta players. They all played her with a vengeance after and it took some time for Maria to win no. 2. Raducanu should consider getting some counsel and mentoring from Maria. https://www.tennis-prose.com/articles/sharapova-explains-players-resentment-of-emma/
Scoop Malinowski · February 13, 2024 at 4:58 pm
Osaka avenged loss to Garcia in Abu Dhabi. Important win.